July 14 in LGBTQ History

1983: In the wake of a House Ethics Committee’s recommendation that he be reprimanded for a consensual sexual affair he had ten years previously with a seventeen-year-old congressional page, Representative Gerry Studds publicly acknowledges his homosexuality, becoming the first member of Congress ever to do so.

2011: California governor Jerry Brown signs the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education (FAIR) Act. The new law mandates that educational material in California schools includes information on the contributions of LGBT people to California and United States history, prohibits discriminatory material and lessons and adds “sexual orientation” to existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education.